Otome fans find themselves in a familiar place again. Hakuoki, much like the Furies that inhabit it, is an undying beast of a visual novel lurching its way to new systems. This time, it’s wrapping up a tale. Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms finishes the saga started in last year’s Kyoto Winds, bringing closure to its 13 storylines. While things may feel a bit different, it ends up feeling more efficient.
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Otome games and visual novels are the sort of genre that frankly, could very well fit anywhere. But, at the same time, there is something nice about having them in a more portable format. It places the story in the palm of your hands, makes it easy to read anywhere like a traditional book and allows people who are devoted to the sights and sounds to really focus on the presentation. In the eighth console generation, the PlayStation Vita really stood out as the system to play such games on, and The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya seems to suggest the Nintendo Switch could fill a similar role.
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People who are looking for a little romance in their virtual lives were able to celebrate quite a landmark in February 2018. D3 Publisher released the first otome game on the Nintendo Switch. The system has its own version of The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya. It may not be the most elaborate game out there, but it feels like a stepping stone and proof that this console could be a good fit for similar titles. This basic title lays a foundation, one that fans of such games may want to consider while they wait for other companies to foster new relationships.
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In the years since Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom made its English debut in 2012, otome games have enjoyed a surge of popularity worldwide. The genre went from an unknown to one that received multiple releases on various platforms each year. Sony handhelds have long been a haven for such titles, with people who own a Vita enjoying the fruits of this bevy of releases.
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Otome games are only just starting to find their place worldwide, but these dating sims for women have been around for quite some time in Japan. If you start enjoying these titles, you will eventually find yourself hearing about Ruby Party. You may even hear laments about how no Ruby Party games have been localized yet! Who is this developer? Why should you care about its titles? Let’s learn a little more about this studio!
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Games get rereleased all the time. But the same getting almost back-to-back iterations over a six-year period? That might just seem crazy! No, wait, it is crazy! But that is exactly what has happened with Hakuoki, an otome visual novel series with new versions appearing on different platforms year after year. What’s going on?
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There is a trend people may have noticed in Japanese games. It is a phenomenon known as red oni and blue oni. In Japanese folklore, there would always be two different kinds of oni, one who was red and one who was blue. Various elemental qualities and personalities became associated with the type, with the red oni being a fiery and passionate man of action and the blue oni being more calm, logical and stoic. The concept became pervasive, with such pairs appearing in all sorts of media. Collar x Malice, Aksys and Idea Factory’s latest visual novel, gives people one of the clearest examples of the red oni and blue oni dynamic.
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Bad ends are everywhere in Collar x Malice. Almost immediately after Adonis, the terrorist group, places the life-threatening collar around the heroine’s neck, you can run into one. She meets her superior in the police department, Masanobu Mochida, and has the option of hiding what happened or telling him everything. Choosing the latter causes Adonis to inject her with the lethal poison and the game to end. What a buzzkill, right?
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There are two kinds of otome games. The first are titles where the romance comes first, and the story exists to further the relationships. The second are ones where the tale a title tells takes priority, and the romance is an incidental that happens along the way. Amnesia: Memories is a good example of the former, while Hakuoki showcases the latter. Collar x Malice is another game where the narrative needs and gets the most attention. This doesn’t make the relationships between characters any less satisfying, but does mean the adventure might not be as appealing to some members of its audience.
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